Caregiver-friendly workplace policies may be critical to HK’s sustainable future

A considerable proportion (17.2 percent) of caregiver employees have probable clinical or possible mild depression, and caregiver-friendly workplace policies are linked to their improved mental well-being, researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong have reported.

Hong Kong is now a super-aged society where the elderly comprise >20 percent of the population. The rapidly ageing population has put a strain on caregiver employees as they juggle their paid jobs and caregiving duties. “However, there is a gap in the literature about the specific needs of caregiver employees,” wrote the researchers. [www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/web_table.html?id=110-01001; J Menopausal Med 2014;20:85-89; Healthcare (Basel) 2024;12:1013]

The researchers therefore conducted a cross-sectional face-to-face survey with 1,205 caregiver employees (female, 55.2 percent) caring for the elderly in Hong Kong from December 2021 to January 2022, to evaluate their mental well-being. Half of the respondents (51.3 percent) were middle-aged and 59 percent spent >20 hours per week on caregiving duties.

Based on the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS), 7.2 percent of caregiver employees had probable clinical depression (SWEMWBS score <41) and 10.0 percent had possible mild depression (SWEMWBS score 41–44). One-third (30.2 percent) of caregiver employees felt distressed about the caregiving role. Most respondents (74.4 percent) did not disclose their caregiver employee status, primarily due to an unsympathetic work environment. [https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/research/platform/wemwbs/using/howto/; Healthcare (Basel) 2024;12:1013]

The rate of depression among caregiver employees in the current study was higher than that in the general population (17.2 vs 1.5–10.7 percent), but lower than that reported among caregiver employees caring for Alzheimer’s disease patients (46.2 percent). [Sci Rep 2021;11:19366; Healthcare (Basel) 2024;12:1013]

Notably, both family support (measured by the Lubben Social Network Scale) and corporate culture (measured by the Marshall Supervision Subscale) positively correlated with mental well-being of caregiver employees, with regression coefficients of 0.252 (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.163–0.341; p<0.001) and 0.482 (95 percent CI,0.311–0.654; p<0.001), respectively.

In the fully adjusted model, family support (regression coefficient, 0.214; 95 percent CI, 0.082–0.166; p<0.001) and corporate culture (regression coefficient, 0.365; 95 percent CI, 0.240–0.473; p<0.001) were also found to be positively correlated with caregiver employees’ well-being. Conversely, a negative association was observed for overall spillover (regression coefficient, -0.050; 95 percent CI, -0.073 to 0.027; p<0.001).

Clearly stated caregiver-friendly workplace policies, including appropriate workplace culture, targeted programmes, and resources such as support services, flexible work arrangements and paid/unpaid leave, were associated with better mental well-being of caregiver employees than when these arrangements were made on a case-by-case discretionary basis.

“These policies can reduce occupational and overall stress, moderate spillover effect [eg, behaviours, emotions, and moods transferred between work and family roles], promote health-protective effects, and improve work motivations and productivity, thereby providing net economic benefits for both caregiver employees and other employees,” pointed out the researchers. “Caregiver-friendly workplace policies may be critical to Hong Kong’s sustainable future, both economically and socially, as they ensure a healthy and productive workforce to support an ageing population.”